US Politics, October 2019 — I guess statement you could say with thread. I made a thread. The thread was PERFECT.

Turkish foreign minister sez there is no truce

maybe Pence met some fake Turks

I dunno why, exactly, Moodles, it just seems like an especially balls-out 'I genuinely do not give even a fraction of a fuck' move even for King Hamblob.

go on...

Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney indicated Thursday that the Trump administration held up military aid to Ukraine in part because officials wanted Kiev to investigate unproven election interference allegations linking the country to a Democratic National Committee (DNC) server.

“The look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the things that he was worried about in corruption with that nation. And that is absolutely appropriate,” Mulvaney told reporters at the White House Thursday.

Mulvaney was referring to unsubstantiated allegations that Ukraine, and not Russia, was involved in the 2016 hack of the Democratic National Committee server.

Mulvaney denied that investigations into former Vice President Joe Biden were factored into considerations about releasing military aid to Ukraine.

When asked if what he described was a quid pro quo — withheld funding unless there was an investigation into the Democratic National Committee server — Mulvaney responded, "We do that all the time with foreign policy."

Istrumpbull not Constantinotruce

He doesn't give a fuck, yes, but he also has zero concept of how bad this all looks. He thinks being president is the no different than being king and sees the US as his personal ATM. All of his moves have been driven by short-sighted greed and stupidity, with no thought given to the impact it all has.

All of his moves have been driven by short-sighted greed and stupidity

You are forgetting about the moves driven by his yuuuge insecurity.

I mean, I do think he has some facility wrt trolling. When people have a bee in their bonnet about something he's done, he's very good at poking that bee, often with no concern for whether doing so will induce the entire rest of the hive to sting him into a coma.

A GOP committee source following Mulvaney’s press briefing: “His diatribe has blown up the Sondland interview—Democrats are referring to the transcript mid-interview. WTF”

— Alayna Treene (@alaynatreene) October 17, 2019

Haha, whoops!

Hope they are able to determine if there was a quid pro quo or not, and if it was a good or bad thing. Very hard to know, really.

if only someone would just spell it out

Hahah if THIS is the reaction.

Trump outside attorney Jay Sekulow to CNN: "The legal team was not involved in the Acting Chief of Staff's press briefing."

— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) October 17, 2019

Anyway, every Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee just voted to send Justin Walker's nomination to the Senate for a confirmation vote.

Carry on. https://t.co/fPLsJN75qn

— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) October 17, 2019

should we take bets on how long before Mulvaney gets fired/resigns

Or gets elected president.

Justin Walker is proudly sponsored by McConnell as a protégé, so he will be confirmed easily. No Senate Republican wants to step on Mitch's toes over some piddling lifetime judicial appointment of an unqualified nominee.

Mulvaney's presser kind of like when Fredo accidentally admitted he knew Johnny Ola

Perry tells president he's resigning, per administration official. Happened as POTUS headed to Perry's home state of Texas today https://t.co/Vas6sWSuxT

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) October 17, 2019

thought he had already resigned tbh

He had originally said eff Nov 1

CNN.com's front page header is "White House Admits Quid Pro Quo.

Goin hard on this one

Rep. Mark Meadows, one of President Trump’s biggest allies, said witnesses have not testified that the Ukraine aid was held up for investigations.

"The key today is to date every single witness, every single fact has not supported any pause or holdup on foreign aid being attached to any conditions — and that’s been consistent with every words we have heard from so far," he said.
Asked about Mulvaney’s remarks that the aid was tied to Trump’s wish for an investigation into the 2016 election, Meadows said: “I haven’t seen it. All I’ve seen is the headline. And I’m going to read the transcript”

Asked if he’s OK that Trump directed Gordon Sondland, US ambassador to the European Union, to talk to Rudy Giuliani, who was pursuing the investigations, Meadows said: “What I’m not OK with is adjudicating this based on half truths and partial statements.”

...and articles that everybody but you has read

Rick Perry Quit Pro Quo

https://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/5da8d02f2100001715ad3211.jpeg

"Got yer nose, Mr. President! PS, I fucking quit."

"That's YOUR nose, Rick"

*bops Perry on head*

“The timeline will depend on the truth line,” Pelosi told reporters at the Capitol amid a busy day of developments.

truth is negotiable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc6tmYYhOUU

our love is on the truth line

truth isn't aaaaaalwaays on tiiiime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4fwrdr_bZo

House doesn't really need to subpoena any of Trump's staff, just stick them in a press conference

Schiff could show up at the press conference in a fake mustache and ask questions

"Hello I am Mr... Ffisch."

"you got trouble...right here in Washington DC"

I plead the fifth with respect to the crimes I will detail for you now

.@RepAdamSchiff: "Things have just gone from very very bad to much much worse." pic.twitter.com/JiBD30dmCV

— CSPAN (@cspan) October 17, 2019

I personally would have gone with "Adam Shiftless" if I were going for a disparaging nickname, but I am not the president of anything so what do I know

Not anti-semitic enough

Funny how it works

NEW: Mulvaney walks back today's press briefing: “There never was any condition on the flow of the aid related to the matter of the DNC server.”

— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) October 17, 2019

lmao

I know it's been said before, but we're very lucky these thoroughly corrupt assholes are also thoroughly incompetent

...but if there were a condition, that would be fine and smart

A majority of Americans endorse House Democrats' decision to launch an impeachment inquiry into President Trump and his administration's dealings with Ukraine, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center.

The survey, which was released on Thursday, found that 54 percent of Americans support the impeachment inquiry, while 44 percent oppose it. The figure represents a four-point increase in support from a similar survey in September.

These numbers are creeping up. McConnell's gonna start sweating it pretty soon if this continues.

“The administration’s announcement that President Trump’s Doral Miami resort will be the site of the next G7 summit is among the most brazen examples yet of the president’s corruption,” Mr. Nadler said. “He is exploiting his office and making official U.S. government decisions for his personal financial gain. The emoluments clauses of the Constitution exist to prevent exactly this kind of corruption.”

that's an easy impeachment article

Murkowski stickin her neck out

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) pushed back on the idea endorsed by the Trump administration this week that withholding foreign aid to other countries for political purposes is a routine and appropriate way of doing business.

“You don’t hold up foreign aid that we had previously appropriated for a political initiative,” Murkowski, a senior appropriator, told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday afternoon. “Period.”

Any appropriations committee member who doesn’t have that stance obviously doesn’t care about or understand a single thing about their job

these guys forgot to lie again.

would you like me to list the other members of the appropriations committee just to double-check

xp

tombot otm the notion that congressional appropriations can be treated as extensions of personal largesse by an executive officeholder is so deeply offensive to the assumptions of the us constitution that i struggle for language

Why, when I try to picture Trump being firm with an incalcitrant world leader, do I picture MacGruber's stock reaction when he finds himself in hot water?

― Furter-Bursting Tater Squirter (Old Lunch), Thursday, October 17, 2019 2:05 PM (three hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

FP'd Old Lunch for making me imagine Trump prancing around with a stick of celery sticking out of his butt